Owen was impressed with the progress the reconstruction teams had made with the park down by the main hub. The island was beginning to look like it had never put thousands of people in danger just over a year ago. A year ago. He had been rounding up their time here on the island to 'a year' for weeks and now it was finally true. Though he hadn't done it because he couldn't remember the exact date. He knew. How could he forget? And it was because of one particular person who was leading him through the control room of the T-Rex paddock.
Owen dashed into the kitchen from the back door the second he had heard her car pull up to the front of the house, brushing down his front nervously. Excitably. He had made a big effort for this, their one year anniversary. He heard her pushing through the front door, her heels clicking on the wooden floor of the lounge as she stepped into the house. He heard her call out his name almost like it was a question on her lips, wondering if he was already here. He normally was. But whenever he was home before her he usually had his music blasting from somewhere in the house which would always bring a smile to her face. Not this evening. This evening the house was quiet.
Owen stepped to the door of the kitchen that led into the lounge and he notice her face light up when she saw him. The sight of her took his breath away. Her red hair had become long over the months they had been on the island, cascading down over her shoulders and ending in line with her navel. She hadn't had it cut as there had been no access to a hairdresser to maintain the sharp bob she had once had when she had got her promotion to Senior Park Coordination and Assets Manager three years ago. And no matter how brave Owen was, he couldn't trust himself with taking a pair of scissors to that delicate hair, no matter how many times Claire had insisted she trusted him. So she had had to pull it back into a loose bun at work, and let it flow to its natural length when she got home. Tonight, however, she seemed to have styled it so odd locks were loosely curled, the rest straight. She had tied the left side back with a green and silver clip. And she appeared to have got changed at work as she wasn't wearing the strappy blue top and jeans that she had left the house in that morning. Now she was stood in front of him in the figure-hugging green dress that she had worn on their fateful first date. Owen knew his mouth was open as he stared at her, but he didn't care. Nor did she it seemed, as the woman simply let out a chuckle whilst slowly walking towards him, a flirtatious grin on her face.
"Don't you think you're jinxing tonight a bit by wearing that dress?" he found himself asking, his mouth forming an equally flirtatious grin as he heard Claire's heels echoing around the silent room.
"Well you're not in board shorts so we're already on to a winner…" Claire said, and Owen couldn't help the small laugh he let out. She was right, he wasn't in board shorts. He had spent the past month planning this evening, knowing that it was the first anniversary Claire had ever had, and he wanted to make it the best anniversary possible. So he had taken the rare ferry across to Costa Rica, the one strictly for island personnel, gone to a tailor, and had been measured for a nice pair of pants and a decent shirt. He'd even bought a tie to go with it. And it definitely hadn't gone unnoticed as he watched Claire stop in front of him, look him up and down with a smile on her face, reach out, and take his tie in her hand. He noticed her feel the fabric between her finger and thumb, before looking up into his eyes. He held his breath in anticipation. Anticipation of what she might say. Anticipation of what she might do.
"You've got a suit." She said, her voice sounding delighted despite how much she seemed to try to be flirtatious.
"I got a suit." Owen said proudly, mirroring her grin, and he felt her tug the tie gently towards her. He brought his face down to hers and kissed her lightly on the lips. He could feel her smiling against his lips and he knew how important this was to her. Owen stopped kissing for a moment, pulling away ever so slightly, his nose still rubbing against the tip of Claire's affectionately as he looked into her eyes, "Happy Anniversary" he whispered, and he felt her let out a little content sigh as she replied with the same whisper "Happy Anniversary". He brought his lips back to hers, and their kiss was intense, the couple wrapping their arms around each other as they became like one person.
The buzz of the egg timer in the kitchen went off behind him, and Owen quickly broke the kiss, looking at Claire as she squinted her eyes curiously, wondering why the timer had gone off. Owen grinned at her, his heart racing with excitement as he realised the next part of the evening was ready. "I've got something to show you" And he pulled her towards the kitchen, leading her through to the back door. "Close your eyes." He said eagerly, and he looked back to see that she had done what she was told, though furrowing her brow with intrigue.
Owen stepped outside to the back porch, and he knew the moment Claire would too she would know something was different with the garden. He looked at her face drop in shock as her heels landed on the wooden porch at the back of the house, and he told her to open her eyes. His heart was in his mouth, hoping she would like what she was about to see. And he saw Claire's face light up as she gazed in wonder at their back garden. Owen had spent the last month coming back to the house between feeding and training time with Blue to redesign the garden. He had built a decked area at the back of the house which boasted a large Jacuzzi on their left that he had built and fitted himself, though the parts he had had to get delivered to the island. Where once the garden had just been a long stretch of lawn from the back of the house to the large trees at the bottom of the property's land, there was now raised beds either side of the lawn with a gorgeous variety of flowers and plants. And in the centre of the lawn there was a small round pavilion, with a small table in the middle, and two chairs around it. On the table were two wine glasses, two plates, and two sets of cutlery . Beside the pavilion was a large barbeque that was currently smoking away. A path was apparent thanks to the small lanterns that lead from the decking to the pavilion, though the sun was still in the sky, so they were not lit. Owen saw Claire turn to him,
"When did you…?"
"A little bit every day for the past few weeks." He answered, grinning at her as her eyes watered at him. He hadn't seen a smile on her face that wide in a few months, and it filled him with joy that he provided that happiness. All the hours and planning he had put into this garden, it had all been for her, it had been done with her in mind. If they were going to make this there home. Their real home. Then it would need to feel like a home from the outside in.
"How did you do it without me noticing?" she asked in amazement, looking longingly over at the Jacuzzi, then back to him again.
"You always come home at dusk. And the first thing you do when you come back, before dinner, is have a shower, or lay down on the sofa to read your book, or we go upstairs and…" before he finished his sentence the woman before him laughed out loud. He loved it when she came home. Their days at work had been a little emptier now they saw less of each other. So the second she came through the door each night it took him all of his self-control not to immediately pounce on her, to let her wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him passionately while he carried her up to their bedroom or over to the sofa. Even one year on he still eagerly awaited her return, like an excitable puppy dog. And the way she normally jumped on him made him feel like she probably felt the same. "You've never thought to look out into the back garden right?" and he grinned as Claire shook her head gently, her smile not wiping off her face. She'd mentioned, around the second or third night they had stayed in this house, a couple of days after they had recaptured Blue, that she hated the back garden. She hated that it was just a long patch of grass. There was no character to it. It didn't feel like a proper garden, and having a proper garden would make the house feel more like a home. So Owen had made a promise to himself to do up the garden for her. It wouldn't be any time soon, but some time in the next year. And he had kept his promise to himself. And now they stood on the decking of their back garden, both with broad smiles on their faces. "So the timer was to tell me that our dinner is ready."
Owen held his arm out in front of them, motioning to the pavilion in the middle of the huge garden, and Claire led the way with a small giggle, clicking her heels down the wooden steps and down to the lawn. She paused once her feet hit the grass, her heels sinking into the lush green ground below them, and she pulled her heels off her feet, hanging them from two of her fingers on her left hand before taking Owen's arm with her right, and Owen couldn't take his eyes off her as he escorted her over to the pavilion.
It had been about 18 days since then and actually the couple had spent more of their time in the evenings out on that pavilion or in that Jacuzzi now than in their house, looking up at the stars, sharing funny or interesting stories from their childhoods and work and how they had come to this moment together. Owen supposed that was the thing about meeting 'The One' in your thirties. He had lived so much of his life without Claire and she without him that they had plenty of new stories and memories to share with each other almost all the time.
Owen followed Claire through a door at the back of the T-Rex's control room. One of her team members greeted her as 'The Rex Whisperer' to which he had heard her giggle at. But it had been a forced giggle. He could tell she was nervous. Heck, he was nervous. What if everything she had told him happened again? What would that mean? Had she actually become the T-Rex's alpha? If so, how? She hadn't been on the island when the dinosaur had hatched, so it wasn't like she had imprinted on the T-Rex. And yeah she had taken it upon herself to spend every day at the T-Rex's paddock, but there was no way that would be enough for the notoriously temperamental animal to see her as an alpha.
Claire opened another door marked 'Viewing Tunnel' and Owen followed her, looking in awe at the size of the long tunnel-esque building that reminded him of the underwater tunnels some aquariums and sea life centers had, with the walls shaped with curved glass. How had the visitors of the old park not been like sitting ducks when viewing the T-Rex feeding times?
"So I came along and stopped right here." Claire described, stopping by the glass halfway down the tunnel. Owen followed her, looking out of the window, trying to see what she was looking for. There was nothing out there but large plants thickly clumped together and an opening on the ground out in front of the couple which, by the blood stains on the leafy floor and black smoked-out old flares, was presumably where the dinosaur ate. "Obviously she only comes over to this section when it's her meal time."
"Is she locked in a different part of the paddock out of mealtime hours?" Owen asked, still peering out of the window. If she was then he would stop looking for her right away.
"No. The plan was to originally do that for each mealtime, but because she hadn't been eating well with that routine we decided to only separate her from this section overnight, so that the night team can do safety checks of this viewing area. We don't want her to be able to get in." Owen nodded in agreement, looking around him at the area. It was an impressive piece of engineering and he could tell the glass was reinforced. Suddenly he began to hear heavy footsteps starting off very quietly, but soon becoming louder, and the floor of the viewing area began to shake. Owen looked over at Claire, expecting her to be afraid, but she seemed calm, as though she had expected or at least hoped that the creature belonging to those footsteps would join them.
Owen looked out of the glass window to see the trees parting and revealing the T-Rex, who stopped several feet in front of them, blinking as she looked at the couple inside the viewing area. Owen couldn't be sure but it looked as though the T-Rex had cocked her head slightly, much like the raptor had. He had never seen a T-Rex do that. Particularly as their heads were so large. The T-Rex kept her eyes on them…or…was she just keeping her eyes on Claire? Owen looked to his left at his girlfriend who took a step closer to the glass with a deep breath. To his amazement the T-Rex did the same, except it only took the dinosaur two steps to reach the glass. The animal didn't roar, or screech, or make any noise. She just stood, almost patiently, as though waiting for Claire to do something. Owen watched his girlfriend slowly bring her hand up, and place it flat against the glass, just as she had described to him earlier. He held his breath. This was it. But after a few moments the Rex didn't move her nose to the glass, instead choosing to look down Claire's body from her hand on the glass to her feet. The heels. Did the dinosaur remember the sound of the woman's heels?
"I don't understand." Owen heard Claire say nervously, "She didn't do this earlier, I swear. She really did nuzzle my hand."
Owen smoothed his hand across her lower back to reassure her, "I believe you" but before he could continue the dinosaur stood up straight the moment Owen had moved. It was as though she hadn't even noticed he was there. Owen knew better than to annoy a dinosaur, if that really was what he had done, and he brought his hand back to his side, taking two steps back from Claire. This seemed to calm the animal again, who had cocked her head, looking at the red head.
Owen watched his girlfriend take a deep breath, turn to her left, and slowly walk down the viewing tunnel, ensuring she looked at the dinosaur the whole time while the sound of her heels echoed all around them. Owen's jaw dropped as, just like she had said, the dinosaur began to follow her. It was as though there was some unspoken connection between them, and if Owen hadn't been so shocked her would've furrowed his brow and tried to make more sense of it. After several paces Claire turned and walked back, standing just to the left of Owen again, the dinosaur having followed her.
The T-Rex now stood in a clearing in front of them, her eyes still on Claire. Claire's mouth was open with surprise, a small smile creeping from the corners, and Owen watched as his girlfriend slowly stepped up to the glass once again. This time she placed both hands up on the glass window and the dinosaur stepped forward. Owen's heart lurched in fear as the T-Rex leant her nose gently against the glass, as though imagining Claire was stoking either side of her scaly nostrils. Owen stared in marvel at not only Claire's confidence with the enormous creature, but also at how gentle the Rex seemed to be towards Claire, as though it were worried it would hurt her. Even though the T-Rex's nose wasn't necessarily just on the glass where Claire's hands were, it being so big that it essentially covered the whole of her body from her thighs to her chest, Owen was entranced by the whole spectacle. What did this mean? Was Claire right? Was she becoming the T-Rex's alpha? And he remained still as he watched his girlfriend somehow connecting with the world's most dangerous predator. The Tyrannosaurus Rex. Her Tyrannosaurus Rex.